The Eroski cooperative concluded the thirteenth edition of its 'MeasureSmiles' solidarity campaign in Palma with a symbolic donation of €3,500 to each of the 14 participating organizations. In total, the initiative raised €49,000 through the sale of the traditional illustrated calendar-rulers in supermarkets across the Balearic Islands, this year under the slogan 'Thank you for making solidarity measurable... in happiness'.

Fina Olivas is still going strong. At 68, she's the fourth generation to keep Can Candu alive, one of Menorca's oldest and most iconic businesses, along with Ca na Genera (Ferreries) and Ca n'Hernando (Ciutadella). Nearly 140 years later, it's surviving the onslaught of e-commerce. Her husband is ill at home, but every morning and evening, Fina heads to number 38 on the central Ramal street in Alaior to sell sheets, towels, and underwear to a loyal and large clientele. "And not just from Alaior. People from Mercadal and Migjorn Gran also come here to shop," she says. She laments that the recent traffic changes implemented by the City Council have reduced traffic in the town center, making it more difficult for customers from out of town to reach the shop and park nearby. "If they find the streets closed, it won't make things easy for me, because I'm barely scraping by with just the people from Alaior who come on foot."

On April 1, Vicente Cajuso, 73, lowered the barrier for the last time at Didasko, the stationery store he owned in an industrial estate in Maó. After having long considered the possibility of retiring due to his age and at a time when the business was increasing profits and revenue, he did so. While still considering it, he posted an advertisement on entrepreneurship websites and public administration programs to see if any Menorcans would take it, but he had no choice but to transfer the business to a Mallorcan company. "If I could have entrusted the stationery store to a Menorcan, I would have done it," he asserts. He also would have liked his children to continue with the "hard work" he did for 38 years, "as long as they liked the trade and it made them happy," he emphasizes with the sincerity of a father who wants the best for his children.

What behaviors make a good Mallorcan? This question is answered in a video posted on the Instagram account. @lapalmesanadesigns where he talks about up to five behaviors and actions that define what they consider "a good Mallorcan."

Sunday, Plaza de Sa Pobla. It's seven in the morning and Maria Serra Miquel, a 61-year-old woman from Murcia, has been up for almost two hours. With her husband, she's already set up the stall with a generous array of tomatoes, radishes, onions, leeks, chard, lettuce, eggplant, beans, melons... She's surrounded by about fifteen other pleasures. She's one of the oldest. She's secured a shady spot to spend the morning. "I," she says, "just want to retire. I've been saying it for three years, but customers keep asking me to hang on a little longer. Pleasure is very cruel, especially in summer and winter, when you have to suffer through the hot, cold, and rainy days."

Toni Gomila (Manacor, 1973) has always been an actor. Vocational, if we want to dress it up; vital, if we do, terrifying. In any case, her presence and name have long been enough to attract spectators to the theater. Now the association that brings together small businesses in Mallorca, Pimeco, has chosen her again to unite culture and local economy.

Mallorcan merchants have raised the alarm and are asking for aid to revitalize the sector during a sales period that is "much weaker than usual." During the memories of human pressure and ofarrival of touristsRetail sales continue to fall, and they are looking for solutions to encourage younger consumers to start shopping.

The Mallorcan small and medium-sized business association, Pimeco, has launched the 'Mallorca's Shops Love Tourists' campaign to send a "clear, direct, and sincere" message: local businesses value and need tourism.